1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to a quick shaping machine and, in particular, a 3D printer.
2. Related Art
3D printing relates to a quick shaping technique, called “additive manufacturing (AM)” or “layer manufacturing”. According to a digital model file, 3D printing uses moldable materials, such as metallic powders or plastic, to build an object layer by layer based on parameters of the model file, thereby manufacturing a three dimensional solid model in any shape.
There are various methods to realize 3D printing using different technologies. One way is to squeeze materials out of the material tube and deposit the materials layer by layer to form a designed object. However, most of the 3D printing methods nowadays mainly employ one single material tube (material) to form the designed object. Some of the 3D printing methods have different materials or different colored materials stored in respective material tubes. When the material in the material tube are used up, or the material tube needs to be changed to another one, a user has to reach his/her hand into the printer to replace the material tube, so as to accomplish the forming of each part of the object.
However, replacing the material tube manually is extremely inconvenient during the 3D printing process. Besides, the user can be hit and hurt by the printer during the replacement process. On the other hand, the printer may be damaged by impact.
In view of the foregoing, the inventor made various studies to improve the above-mentioned problems to realize the improvements, on the basis of which the disclosed example is accomplished.